Cherry Blossoms in Kyoto

It has been a little bit cold in Kyoto, so Somei-yoshino cherry trees have had only
a few flowers at present, but weeping cherry flowers have almost fully bloomed.
We went to Kodaiji temple to see the famous weeping cherry tree in the garden.
It was lighten up and we could see the projection mapping displayed on the white sand ground in the garden.

The weeping cherry tree also had many flowers in Maruyama Park.

In Daikakuji Temple, there are many Somei-yoshino cherry trees, and several weeping cherry trees.
Weeping cherry trees had fully bloomed and we are expecting Somei-yoshino blooming this weekend.

Meigetsu-in in Kamakura

Meigetsu-in is my favorite temple in Kamakura. This temple is very famous for its hydrangea garden. The  hydrangeas are very beautiful when they are at their best in June, but I like to visit there in other seasons because  it is less crowded.  We can enjoy to see other flowers in  and animals: squirrels, cats and rabbits.The scenery through the round window is great, too.

Oyako-domburi (chicken and egg bowl) and Abe-no-Seimei Shrine

We took Randen train to Kitano Hakubai-cho Station and walked for 30 minutes to go to Tori-iwa-ro, the famous restaurant for chicken dishes. We had Oyako-domburi for lunch. It was very tasty.

After we had lunch, we walked to Abe-no-Seimei Shrine. Abe-no-Seimei was an Ommyoji,  a kind of  shaman, living in Kyoto in 10th century. Abe-no-Seimei Shrine was dedicated to him and is a sort of power spot in Kyoto.
There are many peculiar symbols like Gobosei, a star like mark.

Koma-inu, gardian animal statues, are also different from other shrine’s.

Kinosaki Hot Spring

Kinosaki Hot Spring area is located in the
north east part of Hyogo prefecture.
It faces the Japan Sea. It takes about two hours from Kyoto Station to Kinosaki Hot Spring Station by the JR limited express train, Kinosaki.
There are many ryokans (Japanese style hotels) with hot spring baths  on the main street of Kinosaki.

We can use 7 hot spring public bath facilities(sotoyu) other than hot spring bath in each hotels, when we stay at the hotels.
At night we can also enjoy games and eating out at the shops on the street.

Ichi-no-yu; hot spring facility

Gosho-no-yu

the original hot spring

Hatsumode in Kyoro

One of the Japanese custom of New Year’s day is Hatsumode: the first visit of the new year  to shrines or temples offering our first prayers.

People go to shrines near their houses or famous shrines. Poular shrines for Hatsumode in Kyoto are Heian-jingu Shrine, Yasaka-jingu Shrine, Shimogamo-jinjya Shrine, and Kitano-jingu Shrine.

 We went to Yasaka Shrine and Matsuo-taisha Shrine, there were large Ema plates  with wild boar drawings on them.

2019 is the year of wild boar, so we can see
many drawings and ornaments of wild boars in many places.

Lighting up in Arashiyama

We can see Arashiyama, Togetsukyo Bridge, and the bamboo grove lighten up until December 17th. There are a lot of lanterns along the roads. They are on from 17:00 to 20:30.

Koryu-ji and Kaiko-no-yashiro in Uzumasa

Uzumasa is now famous for  movie studios,  but it is  an old town with a long history.
The history of Uzumasa started in 5th century when Hata clan came from Korean Peninsula and settled in the north-west area of Kyoto.
The Hata clan were very good at making silk products, and introduced the civil engineering and construction, sake brewing and other developed techniques to Japan.
There is a mystery about where Hata clan came from. Though they came from Korean Peninsula, it is said that they might come from China, or even  much farther, from Middle East countries.

Koryu-ji Temple is  in front of Randen  Uzumasa Koryu-ji Station. This temple was founded by Hata Kawakatsu who was the leader of Hata clan in 7th century. He assisted  the sovereign act of Prince Shotoku-taishiin in Asuka period.
It is ssid that the major sacred statue, Miroku-bosatsu was given to Hata Kawakatsu by Shotoku-taishi.
Now we can see the statue and the statue of Shotoku-taishi in Koryu-ji.

There is aother place which is associated with Hata clan near Randen Kaiko-no-Yashiro Station. It’s formal name is Kono-shimanimasu-Amaterasu-mitama Shrine, but commonly it’s called Kaiko-no-Yashiro(=Silkworm Shrine). Hata clan were very good at producing silk from silkworms, so they built the shrine to offer their thanks to silkworms.
This shrine is famous for its mysterious ”torii” with three pillars. Most of toriis have only two pillars. We don’t know why this torii has three pillars. Some people say that
it is the evidence of that Hata clan came from the Middle East, because three pillars mean  Trinity, the ancient Christian doctrine; or the above view of  the torii is similar to the David’s Star of the Israel Kingdom. This might be a far fetched theory, but is still  interesting and full of mysteries.

the formal name of the shrine, Konoshimanimasu-Amaterasu-mitama Shrine

Buildings are very old and made of wood.

The torii with three pillars are in the dark woods and retained the ancient atmosphere 

Three-pillared torii